


Dark Blue

by MafagafoGirl



Series: Mindless and Hopeless [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, I'll add more tags as the story gets built, Insanity, Post Abandoned Genocide Run, Sans is a little OOC but I guess it's explained due to the implications?, Suicide mention, Unreliable Narrator, sad skeletons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-05-30 15:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6430441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MafagafoGirl/pseuds/MafagafoGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing didn't come back.<br/>But someone else fell.</p><p> </p><p>This is a sort-of-but-not-quite sequel to my first fanfic, "Dust in the Wind, Sunshine on your Hands", working by the same premise that Sans loses it after Papyrus dies on a genocide run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> It's feasting on and corrupting a vessel within a vessel.

_ “ugh... that being said… you, uh, really like swingin’ that thing around, huh?” _

_ What are you doing??? _

_ “i know you didn’t answer me before, but… somewhere. in there. i can feel it.” _

_ Sans??? _

_ “there’s a glimmer of a good person inside of you. the memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing. someone who… in any other time… might’ve even been…” _

_ … _

_ “a friend?” _

The child’s hand, holding the knife, trembled a bit.

_ “c’mon buddy.” _ The skeleton pleaded in the most heartwarming voice he could find,  _ “d’you remember me? please, if you’re listening…” _

_ I know what you’re going to do, Sans. _

_ “let’s forget all this, okay? just… lay down your weapon and… well… my job will be a lot easier.” _

Sans gave the kid a big smile. One of the biggest he’s ever done. He’s accepted his fate.

The child let go of the knife. The blade collided with the tiled floor and ricocheted sideways with a metallic sound.

_ “...you’re sparing me?” _ Sans let a laugh out, relieved,  _ “finally. buddy. pal. i know how hard it must be, to… to make that choice. to go back on everything you’ve worked up to.” _ The skeleton then looked up, and the thing was tearing up, albeit standing still, a small skeleton animal finally getting out of its back and jumping onto the floor, disappearing behind a pillar.

_ “i want you to know…” _ The man looked at the child, taking a step forward and trying to sound more friendly. Trying to sound like other times. _ “i won’t let it go to waste.” _

Then, Sans took his hands out of his pockets, opening up his arms and inviting the thing, that was merely a centimeter or so shorter than him, for a hug. No matter what happened to the thing, a child is a child, and being the vessel to something stronger than you must hurt.

_ “c’mere, pal.” _

They let go of the roots the thing did holding them in place, and leaped forwards for a great big hug. It weighted heavily on Sans to do that. With a clench of fists and arms, the child was held in place by sharp bones rising from the ground. They had already jumped, and the white spikes held them like someone would hold a ballerina. The rotten soul got ejected out of the body, shattering in two.

_ “get dunked on.”  _ He whispered to the child’s corpse, bones going back to the ground and Sans himself arching his body downwards to hold the little thing, that looked a lot more fragile now that they couldn’t slice him open. He run his boney fingers through their hair, as if consoling someone who’s had a breakdown.

_ “if we’re ever friends… you won’t come back.” _

...

Sans was expecting them to not be a friend. Sans was expecting it to come back. But it didn’t. They won. They did not load. They did not reset. And Sans wondered why would that be. But he did it, after all, he stopped the thing that was murdering everyone underground.

That  _ murdered _ everyone underground.

He tugged his scarf and asked Papyrus if he was hungry.

For once, no one answered.


	2. Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which he finds Home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's Irish.

He opened up his eyes, looking around the violet-tinted walls of the cavern and the ofuscating light up above, now only a small shiny hole. The boy’s entire body ached with the fall, but he didn’t think any of his bones were broken; the flowers had broken his fall, and even if feeling bad for the fall, he wasn’t completely dead. He hoped.

Sitting up, letting his eyes get used to the darkness around him, he looked around for his backpack, which he found plopped close to some dusty rocks nearby. He sighed as he stood up; his pencils would be all broken, even inside his pencil case, inside the backpack. How was he supposed to draw now?

He had no other way to go but forwards. And stumbled into dimly lighted purple hallways, with simple puzzles. A child smaller than him could figure them out, provided they could, you know, read. It was only after stepping into a few crimson leafpiles that he noticed how quiet everything was. He was always told stories about the monsters that were trapped underground, but never gave them much credit, specially now --he’s 11, he’s not supposed to believe on those silly things. However the ruins of long untouched houses made him question that. Why would there be houses here, if monsters did not exist? And most importantly, if they were here, where were they?

With those wonders in mind, he walked through an open gate, that lead him to a room with some water running along the walls.

And in the center of the room, a pot full of candy.

The boy’s eyes lightened up. Whatever those monsters were, they sure were friendly. The sign below it said ‘please take one’. Well, what you can’t see can’t hurt you, right?

The human took a handful of candy, and in his hurry to stuff his pockets with it, ended up dropping the entire pot to the ground.

_ “Oops.”  _

The ceramic shards scattered everywhere, and the noise it made was so loud echoing between the purple walls that the child actually felt bad for it. He emptied his hand on the messy pile of candy on the floor, leaving nothing but one little drop hanging between his thumb and index finger. Letting go of the wrapper, he tucked the treat in his mouth before exploring the next few rooms.

A room with nasty cobwebs; a room full of little holes, that made him fall on leaves once he stepped on those fake floors; a narrow room with one big pile of dead leaves in the middle.

And finally, a dead tree, surrounded by more red leaves. Up front, a tidy little house. It was the only directly reachable house among all the other buildings on the distance, and even though he was almost certain there would be noone home, he did bother to knock and wipe his feet on the carpet, just like his mother told him.

Mum… Would he ever see her again?

_ “Is som'one here?” _ He asked, peeking around the corridor, looking at the three closed doors on it, and turning to the other side, from where a really pleasant smell was coming.

He wasn’t sure still if the house had an owner or not; even if it had, he didn’t think it was polite to wonder around the bedrooms. All of the three doors seemed locked anyway, one of them even had a little note taped onto it. The cattails on the corridor looked like they needed water soon, or else, and the mirror on the end of the hallway needed to be at the very least dusted out.

The boy slowly walked towards the living room, that had simple furniture, just a reading chair by an empty fireplace, some well read and worn out books and a dinner table with some dry flowers.

The dead and eerie atmosphere of the place ran a chill down the child’s spine, and he tugged his dark blue and yellow striped shirt, pulling it downwards, to protect his guts from the cold and goosebumps the house gave him.

The chill slowly turned into a growing sense of curiosity, as he went around the corner to get into the kitchen; and there it was, sitting on the counter, the biggest pie he’s ever seen, the filling peeking out of the shell with an inviting ambar color, with sprinkles of cinnamon on top. And it smelled good too! Kinda bad that a piece had already been cut out. 

His stomach growled a little, and he was divided in searching around the kitchen and taking a piece of the pie. If this place was really abandoned, that could be long spoiled. 

But it certainly did not look so.

Huh.

It didn’t taste so either.

He needed to take some of that butterscotch pie with him. Throwing his backpack on the ground in a corner, he opened up the fridge, only to see lots of containers with slimy things in them. Well, he didn’t think the owner would mind taking one of those. He emptied the plastic bowl in the sink, spewing a grossed-out  _ “eeeeeww” _ when the snails fell flat onto the sink’s bottom, with a squichy noise. The boy pretended he couldn’t see the things wriggling as he washed the inside of the container.

Finally, two pieces of that pie were shoved into it, and the bowl shoved into his backpack, and he proceeded his walk, this time towards the small spiraled staircase descending to some kind of basement. It was dusty and dark down there, but the boy continued forward, down a long hallway, and up a small room, that had nothing but some ashes scurried on the corners and two big and heavy doors. There appeared to have light coming from behind it, and the human wondered if the gates were too heavy.

They just looked like it. A few hard pushes, and the two doors opened up revealing some blinding light.

And when his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He won't see her.  
> Thanks for reading, feedback is appreciated.
> 
>  
> 
> (Also don't feel intimidated by all this brevity, I'm a pretty friendly girl. I'm just connecting the notes and summary to the fic's mood. I love comments and I'll respond to you as much as I can :3)


	3. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which he meets a sad skeleton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's mad.

His mum always made him bring a coat with him, no matter where he went. He never expected to actually need the coat he shoved in the depts of his backpack; but alas, there he was, tucking himself into the yellow jacket, walking through the empty snow trails. 

The boy went through some sort of gate, and past a sentry station. Maybe there would finally be a monster, watching out for humans to feast.

But all that it had was a few frozen condiments. Well, for them to be here, there had to be a monster up close, the human thought.

He had to admit it; he was dying of curiosity to see a monster. He had always heard stories about them and how horrifying and dangerous they were, but none of those stories told how they looked like. They couldn’t even be corporeal --Maybe the snow was a big monster, he couldn’t tell for sure.

The sneakers covered in ash and snow went straight through some puzzles that couldn’t be solved, so long it has been they have been recalibrated, went past some moldy spaghetti and dog houses, until they reached a tiny little town.

Snowdin, the big plaque on the entrace said. It looked like a nice place, even if empty like a ghost town. The little shop had the windows closed, the neighboring inn didn’t have a welcoming doormat, the christmas tree right at the centre of the town had its lights turned off (do monsters really celebrate christmas?), and the diner…

It had an “open” sign on its window.

Taking a deep breath, the child held the door’s handle, expecting for some monster to turn their head to him and ask what a tiny little human like him was doing on the underground. The thought of a dog monster saying that made him chuckle, and it gave him a little more courage to get into the building.

But the wooden interior of the diner was just as cold and empty as the outside. The boy tried ringing the little bell on the balcony, knocking on the “fire elementals only” door, even inserting some pennies in the jukebox, to find it was broken and he spent his candy budget on nothing.

The underground was starting to feel boring. The child exited the diner, disappointed, going past the little water channel by the left and the heavily decorated house that looked like it didn’t have its windows open for years.

The path to outside the city was foggy, and it was hard to see. The fog soaked into the human’s nude ankles, making them shaky and hurt. The boy was chilled to the bone. And a voice was cackling on the distance, about the same direction he was walking. Maybe this was finally a monster! The human was excited to know the source of the laughs that came and went like tides, but the fog touching his body with icy fingers had him go slower than he wanted.

_ “...-nails fight? they slug it out!” _ Another cackle.

_ “i bet you’d be smilin’ righ’ now.”  _ The deep voice sounded like if its owner was talking to someone else.

_ “‘kay, okay, this is a good one: h-” _ Another fit of laughs, and the boy could see a sillhuette sitting below one of the pine trees next to the path, but no interlocutor in sight, _ “how do you call… a person in a tree-hee-hee… with-with a briefcase?” _

…

_ “a branch manager!” _

Those jokes were awful. The person in the distance couldn’t be bigger than the boy himself, as he approached the body, and the sillhuette turned into a short man holding a red scarf, babbling incoherent things onto the dirty cloth, legs laying numb in front of him with comfy-looking slippers on his feet.

Now that he paid attention, that was actually a skeleton. A skeleton that just noticed and was walking towards him, holding the scarf like a bundle of blankets.

The boy froze in place. An actual skeleton, an actual monster, walking towards him with feet dragging on the snow. Was he supposed to run? Was he supposed to fight the monster?

_ “human.” _

The skeleton showed the boy, who was just a few centimeters taller than him, his left hand, for a shake.

_ “don’tcha know how to greet a new pal?” _ The skeleton’s permanent smile widened, trying to look less scary and more amicable. His unfocused pinprick pupils weren’t helping. _ “c’mon, shake my hand.”  _ The skeleton offered him a shaky left hand, that was also just bones, as the child had presumed.

The boy expected a buzzer or a whoopee cushion to sound from the handshake, but all that met his hand were cold and bony fingers with a tight grip.

_ “i’m sans. sans the skeleton. i was supposed to be watching for humans right now, but, uh…” _ he rubbed the back of his neck, while the scarf dangled from his other arm, _ “i don’t care about capturing anybody. and what would be the point anyway? there’s no one else to set free.” _

_ “Is the sentry outside the forest yours? Th’ one with th’ ketchup popsicles.” _

Sans didn’t expect the child to talk, and his eyesockets almost looked like he had raised eyebrows; weren’t all the kids silent?

_ “yeah, sure. but then again there’s not much point to be on sentry duty when there’s no one to verify you’re doing your work, right?” _

The boy ignored his question, _ “Is the underground always this empty? I thought it’d be full’a monsters. I fell by accident, can you tell me the way out?” _

_ “heh. ya ask the real questions, kid. you sound a lot like me, before i first, ah.”  _ He walked sideways to the boy, holding both his shoulders with his hands and pointing a finger forwards, the red scarf sprawled around the child’s back and giving him a surprisingly chilly sensation, like if he was just touched by a ghost,  _ “walk forwards, and keep walking. you’ll go past the waterfalls, past the hotlands, and go up to the core, and from there take an elevator straight to new home-” _

_ “I wanna go home, not take a tour around the underground.” _

Sans the Skeleton gave the child a hearty chuckle. Deep, amused, but hollow and meaningless. The skeleton took his hands off the kid’s shoulders and put the scarf on his neck, with so much care that the boy even thought it could be another monster and he wasn’t noticing;  _ “you’re a snarky kid, i respect your harsh sincerity. i’m afraid goin’ on a tour is the only way to reach the barrier. cross the barrier, and you’re out of this hole. usually, i’d advice you to keep an eye out, but it’s not like-” _ his manic speech suddenly deflated as if he remembered something he wished he didn’t;  _ “...there’s anyone here to capture you.” _

His last words were spit out with a dose of hesitation, as the monster tugged on the red accessory around his neck, and the human slowly started walking forwards. Tucking his hands back on his pockets, Sans raised his voice, to be heard against the increasing wind:

_ “me and paps will keep an eyesocket out for ya, kid.” _

And laughed as if it was the funniest pun he’s ever told, a demented, unaware laugh.

Poor skeleton, the child thought, while the snow gave place to stone walls and little grooves of water ran against the walls. Maybe he’d come back to chat with the guy before leaving. He seemed like he needed a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated.  
> I'm posting the chapters as I write the next one, so I've already got Part 3 written down. Point is, I can't wait to be able to post it cuz it's beautiful and [spoiler] its got ghosts.


	4. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which he confronts a ghost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're not a monster.

The boy walked past another empty sentry station, as the path narrowed itself to a series of caverns with deep abysses on the sides, and tiny blue flowers growing near the walls. It wasn’t a cold place, and the child took out his yellow coat, tying it on his waist, while walking along wooden bridges on waterfalls and small paths made of solid lilypads.

He had no idea what to expect of that land, a dark, humid place with nowhere else to go but forwards. It kinda made him a little bit scared. 

But this changed quickly upon entering a big chamber, with tiny crystals on the ceiling that shone as if real stars, with more of the blue flowers scattered around. This time, however, they were emitting some sort of sound, oozing desintegrating noises; the boy thought he heard a tiny, melodic scream come out of one of the flowers, looping the sound every time he’d approach them. Creepy and mysterious.

One big stone plaque carved on the wall said that was the “wishing room”. The griding wheels spinning on his mind realized that probably the monsters would wish things to the crystals on the ceiling; it’s an inventive way of replace stars, he thought. When passing again by one of the flowers, he noticed that it now reproduced his footsteps, instead of a wave-like sound, and that gave the boy an idea.

Crouching by it, he took some small breaths, admiring the flower, touching its blue petals and also wondering how all those flowers could bloom without sun to do pho-

Photo…

Pho-to-syn-the-sis.

He supposed that was the word.

_ “Y’re a tiny lil’ flower, aintcha?” _

Much to his surprise, the flower answered, in a tiny, high pitched voice:

_ “Y’re a tiny lil’ flower, aintcha?” _

And after a second of astonished silence, continued,  _ “y’re a tiny lil’ flower, aintcha?” _

So the flowers echoed whatever they “heard”?

_ “How can ya hear me without any ears?” _

_ “How can ya hear me without any ears?” _ The high pitched voice replied.

The boy smiled. He was already thinking of all the pranks he could play on his mum with one or two of those. At the same time, however, he felt like he shouldn’t take any of the flowers out. They could be another one of those monsters; what if they were babies? If he took one by the roots, would a mama flower appear and make him beg for mercy? No, it’s better to keep those flowers where they were.

He decided to spend some time there, taking his sketchbook out of his backpack and trying to accurately draw those blue flowers, the pencil scribbling echoing from the closest one.

Flowers that echo… Echo flowers.

The boy traced some blue shadows along the drawn flowers, making them dance on the paper, with his humming friend by his side, echoing his own casual hums; he had no idea how long he stood there perfecting his flower drawings. All that he knew was, by the time he finished his sketches, way too many of the echo flowers in different positions and backgrounds, and an eager attempt of drawing Sans the Skeleton --a lonely skeleton by the pine tree with his red scarf and his pink slippers-- he was feeling kind of hungry.

Putting all his stuff back on his bag, he stood up and followed the course the cavern was taking him, and reached a peculiar pier, with stone tablets on the walls with almost faded messages; without hesitation, the boy read them all.

_ “Th’ war of humans ‘n’ monsters…” _ He said out loud. The entire wall was covered on this story, and it made the boy curious. How long ago was this war? What were its motivations? The humans fearing the monsters just because they had the potential to become demigods seemed a fishy explanation to him.

Since there were no answers, he could do nothing but keep forwards.

Finally, he stumbled across a small glowing lake dividing the room in two, and to his side, a path that took him to something resembling a maze of ground and lake. He didn’t have time for all that, and just took off his sneakers and socks, crossing the shallow body of water to the other side. And in this other side, rested some sort of cave hub, with different openings leading to different places.

The human thought it’d be dangerous to go exploring, what if he got lost?

...But then again the Underground couldn’t be that big.

The first path leaded to a closed house in form of fish, with a training dummy in front of it; he knocked on the door --nobody came.

The second lead to two drooping houses side by side, and the boy saw light from the blue one on the left. Curious, he knocked on this door as well.

To his surprise, a ghost answered.

_ “.......can i help you?” _

_ “Oh!” _ The boy flinched backwards, at first surprised with the stubby hand that opened the door and now phased back into the ethereal body, floating above ground with a pair of headphones on.  _ “I’m- I fell down here, and I… I…” _

_ “.......oh….. you don’t have to be scared of me….. i’m just a ghost that lives inside a pathetic house….. please come in, in case you need a place to rest…. or in case…… you don’t….. it’s fine either way….” _

With a last echoing sigh, the ghost turned around and floated back to their computer, stubby hand reappearing again so they could continue mixing up the music they were working on.

The boy left his backpack near a few book-like albums and opened up the fridge. Could a ghost eat? Was that one hungry?

_ “....oh, are you hungry?” _ The phantom approached the human and phazed through him, sending an umbelievably uncomfortable chill right on the child’s chest, making him flinch down a little. _ “.....im sorry….. i have a ghost sandwich, if youd like….” _

_ “N-no, that’s okay.” _ The kid hugged his own arms, trying to warm himself up again, and walked to his backpack, where his two pie slices awaited him. Both him and the ghost sat down on the floor (or, in the latter’s case, floated extremally close to, with an arching body) and began to eat, and the boy tried some mindless chit-chat.

_ “So, uh… Who’re you ‘gain?” _

_ “.....my name is napstablook….. i take care of my familys snail farm…..” _

_ “My dad had a farm too. He grew th’ taters.” _

_ “....cool.” _

_ “D’you know what happened to ev’rybody?” _

_ “......no. i heard some screaming so i closed my window because it was making me anxious….. and then i heard undyne telling everyone to go somewhere safe so i just locked the door…. nothing happened since…..until now i guess, since you came up……...oh…. im rambling again…..” _

Napstablook spoke in a seared, melancholic way, as if all there was to their life was sad.

_ “No y’re not! That was actually really helpful. ‘Cuz I’m tryin’a find out what happ’nt to this place and why it’s so empty.” _

_ “.....i dont think youll get a lot of information from me…..” _

_ “Nah, it’s all good.” _

There was only silence from then on, and the child decided to keep the last piece of pie for dinner.

_ “....after a meal i like to lay down on the floor and feel like garbage. its a family tradition…. do you wanna join?” _

_ “Sure, why not.” _

Feeling like garbage was great. But soon enough, the boy felt bored, and waved the despondent Napstablook goodbye.

_ “...come by again….. that is, if you want…. you dont need to though….” _

The child gave them a hopeful smile before turning around and walking outside, following the path just like Sans said --forwards forever.

Quite quickly he headed into a larger section, with waterfalls, lakes and rivers everywhere, and met a little monster statue holding a real umbrella, with the drops of water falling on the stones surrounding it creating a simple melody that was pleasant to hear. The boy stood there a long time, hands on his tied jacket’s pockets, admiring the little music he was able to find there. The incessant melody was being echoed by some tiny blue flowers around the statue; they seemed really young as if it’s been no longer than a month since they were planted there.

The well placed together notes made him happy. Filled him with… What?

There was the deep chuckles and dragged walk again, approaching from upfront.

Sans the Skeleton showed up from the connection ahead, walking with a hand on the stone walls, the unfocused smile still on his eyes. _ “hey. _ ”

_ “What up?” _ The child replied, casually.

_ “the ceiling.” _

_ That was awful!!! _

The rosy child cheeks chuckled.

_ “so, how was your trip up to now, kid?” _ Sans asked, tugging the scarf slightly on his shoulders and standing by the boy’s side, watching the statue as well.

_ “‘twas okay. I met a ghost and-- Who’s Undyne?” _

_ “hm.” _ The skeleton forced his smile to widen, looking up to the ceiling of the cavern from where the water drops were falling,  _ “undyne was the head of the royal guard. she’s fish-like, she’s cool. paps’s a fan… actually number one fan. he wants to join the royal guard so badly.” _

The child did nothing, keeping his eyes fixed on the deviating monster.

_ “the royal guard does nothing though. it doesn’t guard anything. guess it’s just ‘royal’ now.” _

_ “What happ’nt to her?” _

_ “she melt.” _

_ “Oh.” _

The two of them contemplated the statue for some more time before Sans let out a sigh. _ “welp. i’ve gotta go now. but hey --you’re almost to the castle! just remember to keep yourself  _ cool _ until then.” _ He said, before letting out a few more of his deep chuckles, echoing through the cave in a low sound.

_ You’re losing the thing. _

_ “What?”  _ The child tilted his head.

_ “you’ll get it. see ya, kid. pass by my hotdog stand, ok?” _

With that, he left with a wink, walking along his path and disappearing on the edge of that cave chamber.

The boy watched him go before going on the opposite way, getting up a small grotto with a small stream running along it --a cave within a cave! --and reached a much more polished corridor, with smooth walls and dirt on the floors.

It was getting warmer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a point there where it's me loving alliteration.  
> Thanks for reading; and also a spoiler: next chapter is long as fuck and contains hoods.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr url is http://artiesbutt.tumblr.com  
> Feel free to scream whenever  
> Let me know of any mistakes; I have no beta-reader atm.  
> I love comments and I'm a huge nerd. Don't let my conciseness make you shy away from letting me know what you think ^^


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